Suspense In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

There are times in life where people do commit a trivial mistake or a colossal crime, but listening to their conscience will decide if the mistake was worth it. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character lives with an old man who has an eye that “resembled that of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” The story revolves around the main character’s obsession over the eye, and how he rid himself of it-- by murdering the old man. Towards the end of the story, the young man confesses to the police about his insane stunt after they searched his house. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe focused on having the reader know more than the secondary character, using description, and using a first-person narrator,

“True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?… I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth, I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?” From the very first sentence, we hear the jumpiness in his voice, how the man is trying to convince the audience over and over that he isn’t mad, which has us question, why would he be mad? Throughout the story, we notice the steps he takes to show his deliriousness, from his perspective, an untrustworthy perspective. The main character seems to add vital details, but make them sound unimportant, further strengthening the suspenseful mood. After he commits his crime, the young man, consequently, cuts the body to hide it more easily, “I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye--not even his --could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out--no stain of any kind--no blood-spot whatever.” He thought out his plans for so long that he executed it flawlessly. When he says he “cut off the head and the arms and the legs,” he says it as if it was a minor detail, making us feel suspenseful of what he

We are introduced to the narrator and his story with suspense, and as the police drag him away, the audience is still left in suspense. Edgar Allan Poe’s decision to start of with a high level of suspicion from the very beginning and only increasing it from there is like having multiple people compliment you; both start off unexpectedly and it only betters the experience. We happen to realize that with all the steps he took in order to kill the old man, the young boy doesn’t account for his guilt, which is why he confesses. Guilt is something nobody can be ready for, not even a